Dime La VerDAD: Verify, Debunk, and Disseminate
University of Chicago
Summary
Dime la Verdad (Tell me the truth) will evaluate the use of storytelling by community health workers as a communication strategy to disseminate reliable health information on social media and encourage informed decision-making in favor of recommended immunizations in communities with high morbidity and mortality due to respiratory virus infections. Dime La Verdad is an innovative social media capacity-building program based on theoretical frameworks related to health communication that empowers community health workers to disseminate reliable information about respiratory virus protection strategies through the use of personal narratives on social media. The proposed work will use a rigorous stepped wedge design to 1) deliver a scalable program of science communicators using an adapted curriculum grounded in principles of health communication, 2) evaluate how diffusion of health messaging is perceived on social media, and 3) discern how use of personal narratives to enhance science communication can encourage informed decision-making to promote evidence-based immunization practices and improve health outcomes.
Description
Public understanding of respiratory virus transmission and prevention is shaped by a wide range of information sources, including social media. As social media platforms play an increasingly central role in shaping health communication, it is critically important to define best practices to disseminate reliable information online. This is especially important when considering the lives of susceptible groups who may not have easy access to culturally relevant and language-concordant reputable sources. Although access to health care remains a significant barrier, access to reliable health messag…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–99 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: 1. 18 years or older 2. Fluent in English or Spanish 3. Provide services as a community health worker or similar designation in at least one of the seven communities with high morbidity and mortality due to respiratory virus infections 4. Have a social media presence (personal or work related) Exclusion Criteria: 1. Plan to stop working as a community health worker or similar designation before spring of 2028 (end of data collection planned) 2. Do not wish to participate in a social media campaign
Interventions
- BehavioralScience Communication Curriculum Cohort 1
Community health workers will receive a tailored curriculum where they can learn to diffuse reliable information and create infographics and media as well as incorporate their personal narratives into social media posts for their communities. Community health workers will share their final infographic and final post / social media strategy.
- BehavioralScience communication curriculum Cohort 2
Community health workers will receive a tailored curriculum where they can learn to diffuse reliable information and create infographics and media as well as incorporate their personal narratives into social media posts for their communities. Community health workers will share their final infographic and final post / social media strategy.
- BehavioralScience communication curriculum Cohort 3
Community health workers will receive a tailored curriculum where they can learn to diffuse reliable information and create infographics and media as well as incorporate their personal narratives into social media posts for their communities. Community health workers will share their final infographic and final post / social media strategy.
- BehavioralScience communication curriculum Cohort 4
Community health workers will receive a tailored curriculum where they can learn to diffuse reliable information and create infographics and media as well as incorporate their personal narratives into social media posts for their communities. Community health workers will share their final infographic and final post / social media strategy.
Locations (4)
- Rush UniversityChicago, Illinois
- University of ChicagoChicago, Illinois
- University of IowaIowa City, Iowa
- University of MichiganAnn Arbor, Michigan